Writers: Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek
Producer: Paul A. Rothchild
Recorded: Late 1966
Released: April 1967
| Players: | Jim Morrison – vocals Ray Manzarek – organ Robbie Krieger – guitar John Densmore – drums |
| Album: | The Doors (Elektra, 1967) |
Singer Jim Morrison named the Doors after Aldous Huxley's book about mescaline, The Doors Of Perception, and more notably, the quote, “…all the other chemical Doors in the wall are labeled Dope…”
The “Light My Fire” single was severely shorter than the original album version. At the time, a single that ran six minutes and 50 seconds was considered far too lengthy.
The song topped the pop chart for the first of three weeks in July 1967. It sold over a million copies and Elektra got its first taste of a Number One song.
Long before Beatles and Jimi Hendrix songs were used in advertisements, the Doors actually turned down an offer of $50,000 to use “Light My Fire” in a car ad.
When the group performed “Light My Fire” on The Ed Sullivan Show in September 1967, they were asked to omit the line “girl we couldn't get much higher.” The band agreed, but when they went onstage, Morrison went ahead and sang the line anyway.
Morrison was more or less disowned by his parents, with whom he had a strained relationship (especially his U.S. Navy officer father), so much so that his body was buried in Paris, France, where he died.
It was fellow psychedelic Arthur Lee, singer from the band Love, who originally convinced Elektra to sign the Doors.